Editing Thailand (section)

=== Informal economy ===
[[File:Train Night Market Ratchada (34079339800).jpg|thumb|[[Talat Rotfai|The Train Night Market]] in Bangkok]]
In 2012, it was estimated that informal workers comprised 62.6% of the Thai workforce. The [[Ministry of Labour (Thailand)|Ministry of Labour]] defines informal workers to be individuals who work in informal economies and do not have employee status under a given country's Labour Protection Act (LPA). The informal sector in Thailand has grown significantly over the past 60 years over the course of Thailand's gradual transition from an agriculture-based economy to becoming more industrialised and service-oriented.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Kongtip |first1=Pornpimol |last2=Nankongnab |first2=Noppanun |last3=Chaikittiporn |first3=Chalermchai |last4=Laohaudomchok |first4=Wisanti |last5=Woskie |first5=Susan |last6=Slatin |first6=Craig |date=2015 |title=Informal Workers in Thailand: Occupational Health and Social Security Disparities |journal=New Solutions |language=en |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=189–211 |doi=10.1177/1048291115586036 |issn=1048-2911 |pmc=5812466 |pmid=25995374 }}</ref> Between 1993 and 1995, ten per cent of the Thai labour force moved from the agricultural sector to urban and industrial jobs, especially in the manufacturing sector. It is estimated that between 1988 and 1995, the number of factory workers in the country doubled from two to four million, as Thailand's GDP tripled.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bales |first=Kevin |url=https://archive.org/details/disposablepeople00bale_0 |title=Disposable People : New Slavery in the Global Economy |publisher=University of California Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780520217973 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

While the [[1997 Asian financial crisis|Asian financial crisis]] that followed in 1997 hit the Thai economy hard, the industrial sector continued to expand under widespread deregulation, as Thailand was mandated to adopt a range of structural adjustment reforms upon receiving funding from the IMF and World Bank. These reforms implemented an agenda of increased privatisation and trade liberalisation in the country, and decreased federal subsidisation of public goods and utilities, agricultural price supports, and regulations on fair wages and labour conditions.<ref name="Guille 2014">{{Cite journal |last=Guille |first=Howard |year=2014 |title=Reforming Asian Labor Systems: Economic Tensions and Worker Dissent |journal=Asian Studies Review |volume=39}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=October 2024}} Many migrant farmers took jobs in sweatshops and factories with few labour regulations and often exploitative conditions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Warunsiri |first=Sasiwimon |year=2011 |title=The Role of Informal Sector in Thailand |url=http://www.ipedr.com/vol4/89-F10110.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411211727/http://www.ipedr.com/vol4/89-F10110.pdf |archive-date=11 April 2019 |access-date=22 April 2018 |website=Research Institute for Policy Evaluation and Design}}</ref> Those that could not find formal factory work, including illegal migrants and the families of rural Thai migrants, are under the regulation imposed by the structural adjustment programmes. Scholars argue that the economic consequences and social costs of Thailand's labour reforms in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis fell on individuals and families rather than the state.<ref name="Guille 2014" /> [[File:Songkran Day @ Chiangmai Wall.jpg|thumb|[[Songkran (Thailand)|Songkran]] Festival, [[Chiang Mai]]'s ancient city wall]]
Informal labour in entertainment, nightlife, and the sex industry face additional vulnerabilities, including recruitment into circles of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.<ref name=":4" /> A 2012 study found that 64% of informal workers had not completed education beyond primary school. Many informal workers are also migrants, only some of which have legal status in the country. The informal labour sector is also not recognised under the Labour Protection Act (LPA). Thai social security policies fail to protect against workplace accidents and unemployment and retirement insurance. Many informal workers are not legally contracted for their employment, and many do not make a living wage.<ref name=":4" /> Tens of thousands of migrants from neighboring countries face exploitation in a few industries,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coorlim |first=Leif |date=20 June 2014 |title=U.S. human trafficking report drops four nations to lowest tier |url=https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/20/us/human-trafficking-report/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523102719/https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/20/us/human-trafficking-report/index.html |archive-date=23 May 2022 |access-date=23 May 2022 |publisher=CNN}}</ref> especially in fishing where slave-like conditions have been reported.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Hodal |first1=Kate |last2=Kelly |first2=Chris |date=2014-06-10 |title=Trafficked into slavery on Thai trawlers to catch food for prawns |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jun/10/-sp-migrant-workers-new-life-enslaved-thai-fishing |access-date=2024-10-22 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>